A group of veterans of Kirillov attended the lecture on the subject “Russian clay toy” which was read by our employee Elena Ikvils.
Various articles made of clay are kept in the open collection of ceramics of the museum-reserve. It includes over 500 folk and author’s toys. Different figures of real and fairy animals and birds, individual persons and group compositions are exhibited on the glass shelves. Some of them were baked in the kiln and painted by hand, the others were glazed.
Visitors listened to the talk about these toys, in particular, about three Russian centres of clay toy making (Kargopol, the Dymkovo and the Filimovo villages) with interest. Examining the exhibits in the showcases, they compared clay figures: though craftsmen often made the same characters, characteristic features of every centre were obvious, first of all, thanks to their colours.
